Chinatown Surprise – Southside Bistro

Every couple of weeks the HITW team catches up to discuss official blog business eat a lot of food. Last week we set our sights on Southside Bistro in Sunnybank (not to be confused with Southside Diner OR Southside Tea Room).

I had no idea what to expect – I just knew I had to be in Sunnybank at 7:30 and I had no time to browse the menu or Instagram to pre-empt my dinner order. Would this be a ‘hip’ yum cha situation? Would there be copious amounts of Peking Duck? I also thought I was going to have to just stick to an entree because my bank account had taken too many fatal hits of late.

Nothing could have prepared me for this Chinatown surprise….

Southside Bistro is like an Asian-fusion (sorry to throw that wanky term around but I really don’t know how else to put it) tapas/burger/desert/crazy milkshake cafe and is tucked behind the neon lights of Sunny Park in Sunnybank. The menu is really unique and is made up of some classic flavour pairings as well as some really exciting and unexpected options like green tea deep fried ice cream bao with condensed milk (SO GOOD) or the orange and burnt butter milkshake.

The sesame crumbed chicken burger with avocado, curried apple may and asian slaw served with cheesy fries

Banana and chocolate french toast

Sesame crumbed whiting salad. This is a ‘tapas’ item… look at how generous that serving is!

Very fancy escargot with Paris butter and garlic mash

To make this simple for all involved I’m going to list out all the things I did and did not like about SS Bistro below.

What’s to love?

The tapas items are huge portions! You definitely won’t be paying $15 for 3 chicken drumsticks at this oasis

The price is right. This meant I could easily afford a burger and chips combo at $15 and it filled me up reaaaal good

All the burgers are made with a Chinese milk bun (like a bao) and are comprised of really great flavour combos like teriyaki pork burger with grilled pineapple and sesame crumbed chicken burger with avocado, curried apple mayo and asian slaw

There are crazy milkshakes. Not crazy as in ‘let’s create a leaning tower of baked goods on top of a chokkie milkshake’ crazy but crazy as in apple rhubarb crumble milkshake and banana and parsley milkshake

The service was very friendly and the meals came out unbelievably quick

They are open 10:30-MIDNIGHT every day people!

You’ll want to go back to try all the other dishes you missed out on!

What’s not to love?

Nothing

It sounds like a bit of a cop out, but I really couldn’t think of a reason not to come back again. Southside Bistro really ticked my boxes and my wallet agrees. Next time you’re on the South side, check it out.